State contractors funneled $150G to Romney campaign

Sunday, July 8, 2012 -- Anonymous (not verified)

Big contributors got $500M in work

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Local Politics

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Author(s):

Hillary Chabot

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s administration approved nearly $500 million in Bay State contracts from 39 companies that funneled more than $150,000 to his gubernatorial campaign and the Republican Governors Association — even though he’s slammed President Obama for providing loan guarantees to the ill-fated Solyndra in exchange for political donations.

The review comes as President Obama has kept Romney’s gubernatorial record in his crosshairs, and the two remain neck and neck in recent polls. The results of the review mean Romney is just as open to charges of pay-to-play, said Washington, D.C.-based government ethics expert Craig Holman.

“They all join in the dirty little pool and pay to play, and it seems like Romney has done the exact same thing,” said Holman, who said the expectation of political donations in return for contracts is much more prevalent at the state level.

Romney, while serving as Massachusetts governor, approved paving, construction and software contracts for companies where the employees had donated up to $60,000 to his campaign or the Republican Governors Association during his chairmanship from 2004 to 2006.

Some of the contracts Romney approved for big-dollar donors include:

• Employees with General Dynamics, a defense contractor, gave roughly $60,000 to the Republican Governors Association and Romney’s gubernatorial campaign before he handed them a $15,000 state contract.

• SPS New England, a bridge repair and highway construction company based in Salisbury, was awarded at least 20 contracts worth $140 million in roadway construction after donating $6,500 to Romney’s race for governor.

• Paolini Corp. employees gave $3,500 to Romney’s campaign for governor before Romney granted the company $7.2 million in contracts to reconstruct roads in Medway and Canton.

Romney even took donations from and granted contracts to a company caught up in the Big Dig boondoggle, though he returned $4,500 from employees at Aggregate Industries. Four employees at that company were convicted of conspiracy to defraud the government after supplying substandard concrete that led to a tunnel panel collapse that killed a Jamaica Plain mother.

Officials with Aggregate Industries, Paolini Corp. and SPS New England didn’t respond to requests for comment. General Dynamics spokesman Rob Doolittle said many employees simply want to donate to candidates they support.

Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said in a statement: “As governor, Mitt Romney took on business as usual on Beacon Hill by rejecting political cronyism, eliminating patronage and reforming state hiring practices to restore public trust in Massachusetts state government. During the Romney administration, contracts were awarded to companies that were able to provide the highest quality of services to the commonwealth at the lowest possible cost to the taxpayers.”

Many of the companies received contracts with the state before and after Romney’s term as governor and donated to other gubernatorial candidates. One employee at Aggregate Industries, for example, gave $500 to Gov. Deval Patrick in 2009 and the company has received $50 million in contracts since.

But Holman said the contracts outside of Romney’s term are still proof of pay to play, saying companies believe they have to give to political candidates, including Romney, to be awarded big-money state contracts.

“Without laws to prevent it, it’s inevitable that government contractors will be giving to political candidates because they believe, and they are correct, that if they don’t pay they really aren’t going to have much access to contracts,” he said.